I have managed to get my hands on a grass-fed, organically raised beef chuck blade roast. Any hot tips on smoking this bad boy? Also, would this cut benefit from brining before hand? This is an extraordinary piece of meat that is very well marbled. There isn't much of an outer layer of fat so I'm also thinking of covering with a layer of bacon. I have S.R.'s "How to Grill" and am wondering how much more time I should add to the "how to smoke a brisket" recipe. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hi Deb and welcome to the board.
You’re lucky to get you hands on such a nice cut of beef. What you have is essentially a piece of a beef shoulder. Beef shoulder is a lot leaner than brisket; it is very flavorful but requires slow cooking and braising. Since you did not mention how much the meat weighs, I couldn’t really tell you how long it would take. However, a ten lbs piece of beef shoulder will take about 9-12 hrs or until the internal temp reaches 190-195.
There are 2 methods to cooking this kind of cut. Wet method-uses a marinade (not a brine), and dry method- uses dry rub (essentially like a brisket).
**For the dry method: use Steve’s recipe for brisket. The meat will get very dark and shiny on the out side, so use a mop sauce or wrap with bacon as you planned. During the last 2 hours of cooking, wrap the meat with foil; make sure you pour some of the mop sauce (or bacon fat if using) inside the foil. Wrap tightly and finish the cooking.
**For the Wet Method: I use the following marinade-
1 Recipe of your favorite rub
1/2 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 small can of crushed pineapples- pineapples contain enzymes that tenderize the meat, plus the flavor is good too.
1 bottle dark beer
1/4 cup of cider vinegar
3 tbs of lemon juice
4 cloves of garlic-minced
1 tsp of dry thyme
1/4 cup of olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Apply the rub all over the beef, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Mean while combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour the marinade over the meat and refrigerate overnight. Set the smoker as usual and maintain temp around 225-250 degrees.
Use the remaining marinade to mop the meat through out the cooking time. Make sure you boil the marinade before use it to mop the meat. During the last 2 hours of cooking, wrap the meat with foil; make sure you pour some of the marinade inside the foil. Wrap tightly and finish the cooking.
When the meat internal temp reaches 190-195 degrees, it will be very tender and it will be easy to pull with your fingers.
Let us know how it turned out.
Good luck.

The shoulder is about 14.5 lbs so I will gauge the cooking time accordingly with help from my Polder thermometer. I have some time before I have to smoke this piece of meat as it is cryovac'd and should be good until early April. Since my initial post, I have been doing some other reading. I wonder if "dry aging" for a few days would also help?

You’re welcome.
I wouldn’t worry about aging this cut of beef. It has a strong beefy flavor on it’s own. Also you don’t want to loose any water. This cut tends to be on the dry side. But if you want to read about aging beef, try this link: http://www.azbbqa.com/Articles/dryagedbeef.shtml